Project 1995 Suzuki Sidekick, better known by its nickname, The Teal TerrorThe naming shouldn’t be forced. My lovely wife, Mercedes, however, believes cars should be given nicknames shortly after purchase. No matter how a vehicle gets its nickname, some of them are fantastic.

You may be familiar with our 1995 Suzuki Sidekick project vehicle, better known by its nickname, “The Teal Terror.” Why is it called that? Part of it is irony. Frankly, we made fun of the color when we got it, since it’s such a lovely shade of ’90s greenish. Also, few cars are less filled with terror than a 95 horsepower Suzuki Sidekick—especially one that is teal-colored. However, the name stuck, and friends and acquaintances all now refer to it as The Teal Terror.

When we took delivery of our 2013 Subaru WRX, Mercedes wanted to immediately nickname it. Regardless of my attempts to dissuade her to wait for its earned nickname, she started calling it “Rexy.” (WRXy), although I refuse to call it that.

Oddly, our 2007 Toyota Yaris never got a nickname that stuck. We called it “The Egg” for a while and Mercedes still refers to it as “The Jetsonsmobile” and then makes the sound of the Jetson’s car. She calls it this because she thinks it looks small, semi futuristic, and people always smile when they see it.

One of the better nicknames we recently heard was from our new neighbors. They just bought a 2013 Toyota Prius in a very nice shade of burgundy; it also has the anthracite-colored 17″ wheels. Being wine enthusiasts, they call it the Tempranillo Torpedo (tempranillo being a wine grape varietal).

We had a friend who had a 2001 Hyundai Accent she called “Pigpen” due to the fact that it often looked like a dumpster on the interior. In fact, I heard her father say that passengers should probably get a tetanus shot before riding in it.

About the Author: Andy Lilienthal, Editor In Chief of Subcompact Culture Blog and Suzuki 4×4 enthusiast. Subcompact Culture is all about small cars. This includes subcompacts, compacts, micro cars, and more. Heck, even some vehicles that are a bit bigger. From news and reviews to cars shows and project vehicles: Subcompact is the small car blog.

ZUKFARI 2018 & 2019

Whipsaw Weekend 2018 - Ride the Whipsaw trail outside of Princeton British Columbia, Canada, The first Canadian trail recognized as one of BFGoodrich's Outstanding Trails. Follow a historic Hudson's Bay Company trade route. Rescheduled for the week of July, 2018 more info to come

Milkshake 250 - ABG style rally in Central Oregon for Suzuki owners Head to our Forum more info to come

Jarbidge Nevada - One of the most interesting places we found along our Next One Over series of adventures.
Let's go back there and see all that's there there.
Forum for more info to come

Think I’ve got the transmission problem fixed but not for sure won’t know till I can drive it cant can’t get these damn breaks to bleed and it’s very irritating went and bought a vacuum bleeder yesterday and still nothing calipers are aren’t frozen up pretty sure wheel cylinders aren’t either i don’t see any leaks and on the leak down test it hold pretty solid it has proportioning valves but I don’t see bleeders on them or close to them the lines are weird it has bleeders on the DR PF and DF so I’m starting at DR then it’ll be PF DF these are vacuum assist manual breaks should I drain the whole system and blow out the lines and start fresh any thought and help would be greatly appreciated.......... it’s on jack stands now so while it’s apart I’m going to go ahead and put my lift on it ...